55 gal - 1st reef tank

Toulouse · #1 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 11:16 PM

Our first reef aquarium, step-by-step. I'm including all the mishaps we've encountered along the way so that hopefully someone else might avoid them.

June 2006. Started with my old cichlid tank after a move. Began with 30 pounds of liverock, 40 pounds of crushed coral, stock fluorescent lighting, and an Emperor 400 hang on tank filter.

After a few weeks to let the tank cycle, we added a dozen hermit crabs and snails. We then nervously added our first corals to the new tank, which surprisingly did not shrivel up and die like we had expected.

We'd read about the other of the "hardiest" beginner corals and added our zoos.

These both seemed to survive nicely so we got brave and added a brain coral as well as invested in a protein skimmer:

We'd now committed the cardinal newbie sin of not researching our livestock before buying it. So after learning more about lighting, we upgraded to a 260W Coralife actinic/10K combo. This, combined with overzealous feeding of the brain coral led to a substantial algae outbreak.

25% water changes every week for a month helped reduce the high nitrate levels and took care of the algae.
Leather coral added which propagated nicely later as it grew.

Another newbie sin of mixing delicate corals and anemones together but after nearly 8 months, the anemone has yet to cause anything but awe. It never stays where we first put it, but eventually it finds a nice little outcropping to live under and never bothers a thing.

By December 2006

One of our favorite additions, a pipe organ.

Another coral that grew and propagated like crazy... until I managed to kill it by letting the salinity rise too high while away on vacation.

January 2007

June 2007

July 2007
Added our first SPS corals to the now 1-year-old tank. Should be interesting to see how quickly they grow.

We's been wanting to get some sun coral for quite some time. Kind of a pain since they open at night and must be fed frequently, but absolutely the most striking coral in the reef.

Adding more yellow to the reef with a yellow torch.

July 2007:

More to come...